The Choctaw Migration

    I began thinking about all the forced migrations in America's history while reading the textbook Contemporary Human Geography. The true natives of this country were forced to migrate from the lands they knew and had adapted with, to lands that were harsh and unknown to them. The Indian Removal Act of 1830 brought about the interregional migration of the Southeast Indians. The Southeast Indians were replaced to a newly created Indian Territory known today as Oklahoma. The first tribe to be moved were the Choctaw. My husband's family is Choctaw and his family over the generations have held on to their folk culture while adjusting to popular culture. The struggle to keep their identity did not come with out a great price though.

    The Choctaw were forced to migrate from their home land through a series of treaties with the United States government in the early nineteenth century. The Choctaw traded some of their land for protection that the government was to give them. However, some of the government's tactics led to the Choctaw relinquishing all of their land. One such tactic is known today as the factory system. This was a system in which the government trading posts encouraged the Choctaw to buy many items on credit which resulted in huge debt for the Choctaw. The outcome was that the government seized all lands to pay back the debt that had been acquired. 

References

Debo, A. (1961). The Rise and Fall of the Choctaw Republic. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, Publishing Division of the University.

Milligan, J. (2003). The Choctaw of Oklahoma. Washington, D.C: Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma with the Library of Congress.

Sutton, M. (2008). An Introduction to Native North America, Third Edition. San Francisco, CA: Pearson Education, INC.

Watson, Chris. (1999). The Choctaw Trail of Tears. Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma website. Retrieved October 21, 2010, from http://www.thebicyclingguitarist.net/studies/trailoftears.htm.